Improvement in suction-hose



lTHOMAS STETSON 8L WILLIAM BRMIDONr Improvement in Suction Hose. No. 124,770. Patentedmarchwnam Ulvrrnn S'rA'rns Param @ration THOMAS D. STETSON AND WILLIAM BRANDON, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SUCTION-HOSE.

Specification forming part of Letters-Patent No. 124,770, dated March 19, 1872; antedated March 1, 1872.

` specification:

It frequently happens thatheavy carriages, piles of brick or lumber, or, in winter, deep drifts of snow, prevent the placing of a iireengine at just the proper distance from a hydrant to receive the water properly through the ordinary suction-hose. The flexibility of the ordinary hose, although sufficient to accommodate slight bends and inequalities of surfaces, is not sufficient to allow the hose to be doubled.

Our invention provides joints, with means for tightening and loosening the same, the whole so constructed and arranged that it may be convenientlyfolded so thaitthe lengths shall lie parallel to each other, and may be conveniently carried on the side orV other part of an engine in the ordinary manner, and so that no time need be lost in adjusting the engine in the proper position relatively to the hydrant, or in removing any ordinary obstructions which may intervene. It allows much'less care in the keeping of hydrants clear and avoids the chance, always possible with the ordinary hose, of losing several minutes at a period when time is of vital importance in getting the rst Water on a lire.

The following is a description of what we 4consider the best means of carrying out our invention.

The accompanying drawing forms a part of this specilication. `Figure l is a topview of our hose adjusted to receive water and convey it to an engine a little out of line with the nozzle of the hydrant. Ifig. 2 isa side elevation of the same in the same condition. Fig. 3 shows the hose in the compactly-folded condition, ready to be transported on a iire-engine5 and Fig. 4i is a longitudinal section of a part on a larger scale. p

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

The main body of our hose is made in lengths of six feet, more or less, of the ordinary area of cross-section and stiffened with stout helical brass wire or other suitable springy materlal to maintain it in the cylindrical or approximately-cylindrical condition under the most1 vbeing properly pressed together. G is a screwbolt, fixed in across-bar, O', on the part C, and extending out through a tight hole in the part D, and provided with a hand-Wheel, H, and a nut, I, and a jam-nut, J, the nuts being xed a quarter of an inch or so above the upper snrface of the hand-wheelH when the latter is screwed tightly down. We esteem it important to make the interior of the half Us C D as smooth as may be, and to increase the section gradually from the points where they connect with the material A B to the faces where they connect with each other. This larger section at the turn allows for the obstruction induced by the cross-bar C and by the bolt G, so that there is an open space or area for the passage of the water a little larger at the turn through the U than in the ordinary body of the hose. The several sections being strongly connected together are `ready to receive water at one end of the entire series and to discharge it at the other, and to allow as powerful a suction as may ever be required. When the improved hose is carried on the engine the parts are folded together or placed in parallel positions, as indicated -in Fig. 3, and the handwheels H being turned, with the parts in this position, hold them stifdy in that position, so that they may be handled together as a single mass. 0n arriving at a ire the hoseis lifted from its proper hooks or carrying place on the engine, and the several handles H are instantly unscrewed, so that the jointsor U-parts C D which they control are liberated from each other, and the hose may instantly be extended and contracted again to any position which may be required to connect the hydrant with the engine. So soon as the coupling of the hydrant and engine is effected, or while this is being done, other firemen tighten the sev# eral handles H, thus holding the joints rigidly in their several positions and allowing only the ilexibility due to the yielding of the elastic or slightlydiexible cylindrical portions of parts U l), the nut I arrests the motion.

the hose to be thereafter available to allow for the springing and working of the engine. The hose can be applied and passed over or around an obstruction in the same time as an ordinary single straight length of hose. The nut I is set at aj ust suiiicient height above the upper surface of the hub of the hand-wheel H to allow the same to be slacked to a proper extent. The jam-nut J is set down hard against the main nut I, so as to prevent its becoming displaced. Vhen, in the hurry and excitement of adjusting the hose, efforts are made to turn the hand-wheels H too far, so as to endanger a too great opening ot' the joints between the The entire mechanism is thus held in such condition that the joint can be always tightened with about one turn of the hand-wheel H, and made absolutely tight so long as the washer E or the equivalent packing is in good condition, while any attempts at repeating the process of nnscrewingthe hand-wheel or any other mistake is not liable to open the joint too far, so as to either entirely disconnect the parts or to liberate or derange the packing.

rIhe connection of the parts G l) to the main body A of the hose may be made by a swiveling ring at one or more points, so as to allow the plane of the bending' of the joints to be changed with facility. W'e do not esteem this absolutely essential, but propose to e1nploy itin some cases at the end joints. The effect is to allow the end sections to be turned relatively to the other parts to facilitate the coupling and to allow the whole intermediate jointed Work to be changed around so as t0 bend horizontally or vertically in any intermediate inclination.

We make the joint around the bolt G absolutely tight by means of a small ring of rubber sunk into a dovetail groove, as shown by g, and compressed therein so as to slightly swell it. The rubber is a little more than sufficient to lill the groove, and is compressed through the medium of a washer, g of metal, which has a small pin or point projecting into a recess in the part D to prevent its turning. Vhen the hand-wheel H is screwed down its friction is eXerted on the washer g alone,which cannot turn, but presses directly upon the rubber ring g below, spreading it inward and insuring a tight fit.

lt will be perceived that by these devices an improved suctionhose pipe is produced by means of which great facilities are afforded in manipulating or arranging hose at fires, and in sudden emergencies, and that this new article or product is herein set forth and claimed as the substantial subject-matter of our invention.

We claim as our invention- 1. The several lengths of semi-flexible suc tion-hose A B, united by turning-joints O D, combined substantially as herein set forth.

2. The tightening means G H, for liberating and making' rigid the joints C D in ajointed or hinged semihexible suction-hose, as herein specified.

3. We claim the combination of semi-ilexi! nesses. j

aiiaoMAs D. sTETsoN.

WM. BRANDON.

Witnesses:

C. C. LIVINGs, A. HOERMANN. 

